Dystopia in a Hidden Dream
by Apple Snapple
Summary: He flitted through one horrid dream after another, confused and yet for some reason feeling settled, as if nothing mattered to him anymore. //thrill pair
1. Dream 1

_Please note that I don't own Prince of Tennis, nor the characters. I just have the plotline freely swimming in my head, doing nothing but bother me until I post this down for the world to see._

_Something like that, at least._

_Please sit back and enjoy the story._

* * *

_Ring. Ring._

_A boy picked up the phone. "Hello?"_

_Crackling. A intake of breath. "Fuji-senpai, where are you? Everyone's waiting for you at the street courts."_

"_I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten the time," the boy answered, casting a glance outside his bedroom window. "I'll be there shortly, ne?"_

_More crackling. "Okay. Remember to bring some extra tennis balls, okay? Oh, and probably some extra money too, since Momo-senpai's going to probably want to eat afterwards. And don't think of brining your cactus like last time, okay?"_

_No answer._

"_Hello? Fuji-senpai?"_

_The phone was on the ground, isolated, alone._

"_Fuji-senpai?"_

_--dreams--_

Cold. That was the first thing that came into Fuji's mind as he made his way through the unfamiliar, busy streets. Vaguely he wondered what he was supposed to do, but that thought quickly disappeared as he bumped into a burly man.

"Excuse me," he said, nodding his apologies.

The man he had just bumped into eyed him distastefully. "Ye aren't one of those beggars, are ye?" he asked him, looking at Fuji's clothes. "No, probably not. Ye one of those shop apprentices, right?"

Fuji looked at him, confused. "Shop…apprentices? No, I don't believe so."

"Eh? Where are you from then?" It was then that Fuji noticed the business of the streets had gone, and he and the man were the only ones left standing there.

"I'm…" Fuji could not remember where he was from, or why he was standing there. He didn't even know where this place was. "I don't know." He eyed the streets in confusion, as they suddenly started filling up again, women bustling about wearing dresses. Carts were being pushed around by other men, some of them filled with dead bodies. Children were on the ground, some of them weeping, some of them stopping the passing people and asking for food. He looked at the man, the burly man who was wearing a shirt and trousers. "Where is this place?"

"Eh?" The man looked at him with a suspicious glance. "Ye don't know where you are? Nor where ye came from? And why are ye wearing such a thing?" He pointed at Fuji's cloak.

"Well, it's cold," Fuji explained to him, noticing that several people were staring at him right now.

"Cold?!" the man nearly shouted. "It's the middle of the summer!"

"She's a witch sir, ain't she?" a beggar called out, huddled against a barrel, looking at Fuji with wide eyes. "Or a wizard. I can't tell."

There was a crowd around Fuji now, and the burly man glared at him. "Well, I can't tell either. Tell me boy, where are ye from, really?"

Fuji's lack of response made the man grow even more frustrated. "Boy, we don't allow foreigners in our town. So if you're from another country I suggest you better get out fast!"

Panicking and not knowing what to do, Fuji broke out of the crowd and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, not knowing where he was going, or what he was running away from, exactly. It was unlike him to run away from a threat, but some reason his legs moved before his brain could even properly process the information that had just been given to him.

Somehow, Fuji ended up in a warm, cozy house, not knowing how he had gotten in there in the first place, or how he had even managed to enter it. A old lady with wrinkled skin was sitting in a rocking chair all alone, knitting what seemed to be like a scarf.

As if the old lady could sense his presence, she looked up, eyes locking with Fuji's. "Well, well, what do we have here. A visitor?"

"I…" Fuji started.

The elderly woman shushed him. "There, there, you were chased by those scoundrels in town, weren't you? That's why you ended up in my home, of all things."

"Where am I, exactly?" Fuji asked her, although honestly he really didn't care at the moment. He suddenly felt very tired, almost sleepy.

"Why, you're in Yorkshire, child," the woman told him, surprised. "Well, Yorkshire's close to here, just about thirty miles away. Ah, perhaps you were taken here by force. Now come here, I'll fetch you a piece of apple pie."

"By force?" Fuji repeated, not really understanding her words, but he didn't try understanding, as he sank into a chair that was being offered by the mysterious stranger that he had come upon. "Who are you?"

"I'm a witch," she said happily, and with surprising quickness for her age, had managed to come back with a piece of pie that she placed on the table before him. "Now, eat up. How did you get here?"

"I ran," Fuji answered. For some reason the word tennis popped into his head, but he ignored it, not understanding what that had to do with anything. Somehow the fact that he had run thirty miles seemed unusual, but that thought vanished too. He didn't seem to be able to think properly at the moment, and his mind was in a haze. "I ran," he repeated, not really knowing why he was repeating himself.

"Ah, you ran," the witch replied, nodding. "It must have been hard."

Fuji shook his head, and managed a smile this time. "It wasn't hard at all. It was like…flying."

"Ah, yes," she answered, nodding.

Fuji looked at the plate before him, seeing that he had finished the pie, even though he didn't know how he had done it, having not been given a fork. He looked back up at the woman, who was still nodding, nodding, nodding, endlessly nodding.

He took a look around the house, suddenly realizing for some reason it had gotten smaller. He dismissed it, and turned back to the woman, who was still endlessly nodding.

"Are you…okay?" he asked uncertainly.

She kept on nodding, her head moving more violently now.

_Up. Down. Up. Down. THUD!_

Fuji watched in horror as the woman's head snapped off and fell onto the ground, rolling, rolling, rolling endlessly though a black cavern.

The house had disappeared.

* * *

_If it's confusing, it's supposed to be. XD It'll be explained in the…next chapter…hopefully…XD_

_I posted this up on LJ too. XD I have a bad habit of starting stories right before school starts. WTF. XD_


	2. Dream 2

_P__lease do note that I don't own Prince of Tennis or the respected characters. Nor do I own Konomi Takeshi, if you were wondering about that as well. XD_

_Please enjoy!_

* * *

"The doctors say they can't find anything wrong with him," the nurse said fretfully, wringing her hands and trying to look anywhere but at Echizen, who was staring at her as if she had grown two heads. "I'm sorry, there really isn't anything I can do at the moment."

The nurse obviously was a new addition to this hospital, Echizen decided, since she seemed nervous and at her wits end. "Can I see him now?" he asked, unsatisfied with her answer.

As the nurse led him to Fuji's room, Echizen was reflecting on what the nurse had just said to him. Since when did people faint out of the blue with no explained reasons? And what did the doctors mean that Fuji wasn't exactly unconscious, but, rather in a deep sleep? So many questions swimming in his head, but none of them had been answered.

The nurse opened the door slowly, as if scared to find a corpse lying in the bed. She opened the door wider after she had decided there wasn't anything that was going to explode in her face, and allowed Echizen to enter as well.

Fuji was lying in the bed, sleeping peacefully as if he hadn't just fainted while having a phone conversation with his boyfriend.

"Are you sure you don't know what's wrong with him?" Echizen asked the nurse once again, but not expecting a helpful answer.

The nurse looked helpless. "The doctors say he's just in a deep sleep," she repeated, as if she couldn't really believe it herself, sneaking glances at Fuji. She looked at him questioningly. "Maybe it's shock?"

Echizen rolled his eyes. "Why are you asking me, I'm not a doctor."

She looked embarrassed, and quickly left the room, leaving Echizen alone with Fuji. Echizen took a seat beside Fuji's bed. A few moments passed in silence, since he really didn't know what to say. Or, rather, if he should say anything at all, since Fuji was still 'sleeping' and it wouldn't really make sense to talk to someone who couldn't even hear anyone at the moment.

"There's nothing wrong with you, right?" Echizen asked anyway, trying to reassure himself. "You were just too tired or something, so you just collapsed. You'll get better in a few hours, and then we can go to a bookstore or something and get that book you wanted."

Silence.

"Mada mada dane," Echizen said, rolling his eyes. "Being in a hospital isn't like you, Fuji-senpai. You're supposed to be at home taking care of your cacti and lecturing me on how to take care of plants properly."

Unbeknownst to him, Fuji was in a totally different world at the moment, unable to hear him.

_--dreams--_

"Why did you do that?" the boy said tearfully, pulling on Fuji's sleeve, looking at him with hurt and questioning eyes. "My cat…"

Fuji looked into his gold eyes, the boy's gold eyes that seemed to have an endless depth to them. "Your cat was in the way," he said coldly, brushing the boy's hand away. "My driver had no way of controlling the car when she jumped out like that. Perhaps, I could give you a compensation." He took out a few bills and handed them to the boy.

The boy glared at him, tear tracks glistening on his face and whacked Fuji's hand away, causing the money to fall on the ground. "I want my cat back," he spat out. "I don't want your filthy money. Give me back my cat! You killed my cat!!"

"It's your loss if you don't accept the money," Fuji answered him. "And I can't just give you back a life. It's out of my hands." With that, he got back into his car and ordered his driver to drive away, leaving the boy out on the road, bills scattered around his feet and a bloody blob in what used to be his cat, lying dead.

Somehow time passed very quickly, as if he was being teleported into another scene. Fuji realized he was in a courtroom at the moment, with hysterical woman who was pointing at him and shrieking. "He killed my son!" she screamed, her whole body shaking, tears pouring down her face. "He killed my son!"

The judge looked at him with cold eyes. "Fuji Syusuke, you are sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment for murder. Case closed." And with that, Fuji Syusuke, a respectable businessman, was imprisoned for lifetime.

A few years passed in merely a few seconds and Fuji found himself in a cold cell, all alone. He sat on his damp bed, eyeing the moss on the wall emotionlessly. A few years ago, he probably would've looked at the moss in disgust, but now, even the fact that roaches shared the same bed with him didn't disturb him anymore. If the guards didn't know any better, they would've labeled Fuji as dead by now.

There was a creak, and Fuji slowly looked up at his ceiling. A menacing face stared back down at him, laughing, blood trickling down his face and one arm missing, a bloody stump in its place. "Look at you now, all alone in a prison cell," the boy said, cackling. "You deserve it, Fuji Syusuke, for killing my cat years ago. And killing me."

Fuji looked into his eyes. "Who are you?"

The face glared at him, and the boy jumped down from his place on the ceiling, and came face to face with Fuji. "Don't you remember me?" he spat out, grabbing Fuji's chin and grinning madly. "You're that bastard who killed my cat. You didn't even apologize for it."

The grip on Fuji's chin felt like fire, and he tried to escape from the deathlike grip in vain. The boy cackled. "No getting away from me this time, Fuji Syusuke," he taunted, his grip on Fuji's chin strengthening. "Think of this as revenge for running over my cat and then killing me!"

The room suddenly went black, and the boy tackled him, causing Fuji to fall back in horror as he felt his skin burning, burning, unbearable heat surrounding him. He couldn't breathe…his lungs were burning…

He was suffocating…

* * *

_Haha, sorry, it's kind of…a ending that doesn't really make sense. I think most of it will be explained in chapter three, so stay tuned!_


	3. Dream 3

_I do not own Prince of Tennis, and if I was Konomi Takeshi and writing this, I probably would've written a sequel to Prince of Tennis. Yeah, that would be more likely._

_Please enjoy!_

* * *

"Are you sure he hasn't woken up yet?" Momoshiro Takeshi asked slowly, eyeing Fuji resting peacefully on the hospital bed in disbelief. "Maybe he woke up while you weren't here, or maybe you fell asleep."

"If he had woken up he probably would've called me," Echizen retorted, his arms crossed as he stared at Fuji, eyes closed, mouth almost smiling, as if he were in a pleasant dream. "It isn't like him to sleep for ten hours straight, and he probably would've asked why he was in the hospital if he had woken up."

Momo nodded, understanding Echizen's logic. "I'm sure he'll wake up soon enough," he said. "It's not like Fuji-senpai to be sick, or anything. In fact, I haven't ever seen him ill before."

"Really?" Echizen looked at him, surprised. "Hasn't he gotten the flu or anything recently? I mean, it's been really cold these past few weeks."

Momo shook his head. "I've never seen him get sick before. It's like he has a super strong immune system or something."

"Hn," was the only response his senior got, looking back at the sleeping tensai.

"Don't worry Echizen, he'll be fine," Momo reassured him, patting him on the head. "I'm sure he'll be up and about in no time. His cacti probably can heal him, or something."

"Che." Echizen replied.

_--dreams--_

He was locked in a dark, chilly room. There were no windows, save for a small hole that appeared in the corner, probably due to the rotting of the wooden structure that was called his home.

It had always been his home, for as long as Fuji could remember.

His parents didn't want him, nor did his older brother really remember that he had a brother in the first place. His mother was too busy going around bragging about how rich she was now that she had such a elite husband, gossiping with the other women in their village as if the basis of life was all about her and her needs. She had no time to take care of a child who was barely mature enough to attend parties and those sorts of things, even though Fuji was already a teenager. She kept to her friends most of the time, and sometimes she wouldn't even talk to her husband for days.

Not that her husband minded. No, Fuji's father was too busy traveling around the world on business trips, meeting other respectable and important people from other countries. Some days he probably forgot he even had a wife and second son. His brother probably had forgotten him by now, since his tutors were probably cramming into his head loads of business information by now, in order for him to succeed in his father's business once it was passed down to him.

That being said, there was no room for Fuji to be in. His existence to other people had disappeared. A maid would bring him food, water, and some clothes and such once and a while, but the maids really didn't try to remember him or anything. Most of the time they'd forget he were there until a moment of panic took over them when they realized they had to feed the second son, or else he would die of starvation or thirst. They didn't even know his name, probably never bothered to even try to remember it.

Not that Fuji cared. It wasn't very accurate to say that he was content with his life at the moment, but he certainly didn't detest it either. With his wild imagination, he had managed to think of some friends, of scenarios, and his mind was hard at work producing imaginary friends and talking to them through his mind. The days passed with only his brain in use. Some days he'd walk around for a bit before sitting back down, more content with talking the friends that didn't even exist.

He didn't mind that his friends were only imaginary. After all, he had disappeared from the world, so it was only fit that he had friends that were invisible to the world as well.

So his days passed by, day after day, talking to his imaginary friends and having a grand time as it was.

Until one day he overheard a few maids that were gossiping outside.

"You know, I heard the second son talking to himself one day while I was bringing him rice," the maid said in a shrilly voice. Any other person would have been annoyed by such a high-pitched, annoying voice, but Fuji really didn't care. He was talking to Tsuyoshi this time, and they were discussing what it was like to go to a school.

"He was probably talking to one of those imaginary friends of his," another maid asserted. "Uh huh. The poor boy, maybe we should talk to him sometime. I mean, he's all _alone_ and all those imaginary friends of his he will eventually forget."

_No_, Fuji thought. _Don't talk to me. I don't want your friendship. Tsuyoshi's much nicer than any of you; he wouldn't forget to bring me food._

"We shouldn't bother. The kid's probably going to die in a few years anyway. I'm surprised he hasn't already."

_Good. Don't come here._

Those words never really bothered Fuji; he never cared for maids' gossip.

It was one morning, though, that he slowly began to realize those maids' words were true; he _was_ alone.

He had just woken up, and in a haze he desperately tried to remember who he had been talking to the night before. In a shock he realized he couldn't remember who it was until the next day, when the memories quickly flooded back to him.

He desperately tried to remember more scenarios, but they were too deep in his mind to fish out. Even though he had been talking to them for so many years, he could only remember a few of those memories. The rest were all faded, blank, erased from his mind. He couldn't remember every single second he had spent with those invisible friends of his.

_Would it be like this if they were real human beings?_

It was then that Fuji Syusuke began to be frightened about not existing. To be invisible. If he had died, no one would notice, no one would remember, no one would even _care_.

He was lonely, so it didn't matter if he lived or died; it would still be the same. He did not exist, and to those maids, it would probably be better if he had just died.

He was the second son. The second to everything; non-important.

The woman who had given birth to him had forgotten all about him. The man who he had shared his parents' blood with didn't even know he existed. The father who had so many assets couldn't be bothered with him.

To not be remembered, to just be a rock in the world, it was certainly frightening, and certainly very lonely. So what was the point of living?

Since living was the same as dying, there was no difference.

…

Two days later, Fuji Syusuke committed suicide, breaking a empty bowl and using the sharp edge to cut through his wrist until he was satisfied enough with the results.

He died alone, and no one knew or even cared.

Not even his imaginary friends he had come to be so fond of had known; he had taken them with his grave, and those friends of his wouldn't be able to remember his existence either.

_--dreams--_

Fuji woke up with a start, cool air rushing to his face, a window in his room having been opened to let the air circulate more thoroughly. He looked inside Echizen's eyes, and the latter boy was almost knocked of his feet when he saw the desperate fear that was displayed through the depths of the tensai's blue eyes.

"I didn't mean to kill your cat," Fuji said desperately, catching Echizen's sleeve and tugging it. "I didn't mean to kill Karupin, the car…the car…she bolted out so fast, he didn't see her come out onto the road."

His underclassman looked at him with confusion etched on his face. "Fuji-senpai, what are you talking about? Karupin's fine, and you don't have your license yet."

"Not me, I didn't drive, my driver drove," Fuji exclaimed. "Don't you remember? And then…and then…" More memories came flooding back to him. "Oh…I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill you either."

"Fuji-senpai, I'm right here," Echizen said impatiently, grabbing onto Fuji's wrists, which immediately caused the brunette to cry out in pain.

"It hurt…it hurt," Fuji cried out, rubbing his wrists. "The bowl, it was so sharp, and…it took such a long time for it to cut through, I wasn't even sure it was even sharp enough."

"What bowl?" the black-haired boy asked exasperatedly. "Fuji-senpai, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Her head fell off…I just went into her home and ate her pie and then her head fell of…am I really a witch…or…or…wizard?" Fuji's breathing was speeding up, and he grabbed onto his bewildered boyfriend's arm. "I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to kill you both, I didn't want to, but for some reason I just _did_."

Echizen sighed and pulled his senior into an embrace, thoughts in his head currently flying around so fast he could barely think, but he had to calm Fuji down first. "It's alright, it was just a dream, nothing more than a dream."

He had thought he would be relieved to see Fuji wake up after twenty-four hours of non-stop sleep, but he had never expected _this_.

…

_Tell a blind man there's an elephant in front of him and he'll believe you. Tell a person who can't smell that there's a vanilla scent in the air and he'll believe you._

_Tell a man who's in a deep sleep that he's dreaming and he will neither believe you, nor care for that matter._

_In fact, he won't even hear you screaming at him to come back; that it's all fake…_


	4. Dream 4

_T__ell a man who's in a deep sleep that he's dreaming and he will neither believe nor care._

_In fact, he won't even hear you._

--_dreams--_

"Where am I?" Fuji asked aloud, turning around, seeing strangely shaped buildings that were surrounding him, the sky an eerie looking gray, no sunlight to be seen whatsoever. The ground under him was gray cement, perfectly matching the gray, lightless sky, gray all around, no color to be seen. His clothes were a light tan colored, matching the gray place that he was in.

"Where are you?" a little girl laughed, floating around him, a smile on her face, as if something that Fuji said had made her extremely happy. "Why, you're in the first level of hell, of course. Where else would you be?"

Fuji looked at her, not understanding. "First level…of hell?"

"Of course," she said gaily, floating up and around, disappearing through windows and appearing back out, as if she was having the best fun she could ever possibly have. "Oh, don't worry, you'll get through all nine levels in no time. Just you wait. The ninth one is the best."

"Good for me, or for you?" Fuji asked her, trying to follow her figure with his eyes, but she flitted around too fast for him to catch up.

"For me, of course," the girl said triumphantly, giggling. "Oh, this is going to be a blast!"

"Aren't you going through all nine levels too?" Fuji's legs felt heavy for some reason.

"Of course not!" The girl looked at him in horror, and started laughing again. "Oh, well a newbie wouldn't know. You just died, after all, and you were a bad, bad boy. Maybe you killed someone." She seemed delighted by the thought. "Well, anyway, I get to flit around the levels and it doesn't affect me or anything. I'm Death's favorite, so he keeps me around and I entertain him with what I've seen. You could call me a guard or something, not that there's anything really to guard here, there's no way of getting out. It's absolute hell." She giggled at her own joke. "Oh, it seems you're sinking already!"

Fuji looked down at his feet and realized that they had disappeared into the black murkiness of…nothing. He looked up questioningly.

"You're sinking into the second level," she said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, dead people these days. They think you're going to go _up_ when you go up in levels. No, you go down, it's the underworld, duh."

"When did you die?" Fuji asked, feeling his waist getting submerged into the darkness. Never mind that he was being rude, it wasn't really important to have manners since he was in the underworld anyway.

"Oh, I didn't die, I was created by Death," the girl answered, waving a hand in the air. "No one said Death couldn't create life. So, in reality, I never lived. Well, I'm kind of living now, in the death world, but in your human terms it's not actually called 'living', but it's as close to it as you can get down here." She took a look at Fuji's state and giggled again. "Oh, look, your head's popping out of the darkness! Last time a little boy with a cap and greenish black hair came and he could only turn his head around and he panicked. The poor thing, the other eight levels were probably so hard for him…"

"Where do you go once you've gone through all nine levels?" Fuji asked her.

"You're surrounded by darkness forever. It's not so bad, but most people lose their minds. Everyone's separated and stuff so there isn't really much room for conversation." She shrugged. "Not that anyone would want to talk about what they've been through. So yeah, putting people together would probably be pointless anyway. Oh, look, we're in the second level now!"

Fuji looked around and he could see that he was in a cavern filled with magma, so unbearably hot he could barely stand it.

"You know, you really seem interesting," the girl commented. "I mean, not very many people like to talk to me. I only talk about morbid things anyway, and they aren't very interested. I wonder if you'll still talk to me when you're past the fifth level."

"Where am I going?" Fuji stared at the magma that was getting closer and closer, the area around him getting hotter and hotter.

"You're just going through the magma and into the third level." The girl nodded, flitting about happily. "It doesn't affect me, by the way. That's one good thing about being created by Death; you don't get affected from his wrath. Oh, and don't worry. It's pretty slow, so you get to enjoy yourself."

Fuji's legs entered the magma first, and he could barely stop himself from screaming, biting his lip as his toes went through boiling, red hot liquid. His ankles went in next, and he gave out a strangled cry, trying to get away from the liquid burning him, so red that his eyes hurt and he closed them, trying to get the scene out of his mind. He needed to wake up…he was dreaming…

"Oh, you're not dreaming," the girl assured him, diving in and out of the lava as if it were a swimming pool. "Way too many people have tried that trick before. It doesn't work. Do you remember how you died?"

Fuji shook his head, his knees now submerged in the boiling pool of lava.

"I thought so. Most people don't remember. Dying isn't really that bad, it's over here where they get the worst of it." The girl smiled, and pretended she was walking on the red pool, taunting him, giggling. "You're impressive. Most people would have been screaming by now."

Fuji shut his eyes tightly, now most of his chest sinking in. He wished it were over already, and that he could go to the third level.

Which turned out to be even worse.

"I have a part in this!" the girl exclaimed, grabbing a handful of needle-like things happily. Apparently the third level involved her, but Fuji didn't exactly want to know how.

"What are those?" Fuji eyed them, those needle-like things somehow looking very familiar.

"Cacti needles!" The girl looked shocked. "I can't believe you don't remember! You used to like cacti so much! You kept like, twenty of them in your room!" She inserted one into Fuji's arm, and if Fuji had instincts anymore he would have flinched back, but all he could do was stand there helplessly. "You're going to become a cacti once I'm done with you!"

Needle after painful needle was inserted into his body in different places, some on his chest, others on his legs. The girl seemed especially delighted at inserting a few of them onto his face too.

"Mm, I like you," the girl said happily. "I think you're the first person who hasn't screamed out. Mm, maybe the fourth level then!" She clapped her hands. "Now all you have to do is sink into the fourth level! Oh, that's going to be so much fun! The fourth level is my favorite!"

So Fuji sank into the black, depthless ground and ended up in the fourth level of the underworld, and he was confused. Before him was a chair and a table, and a glass of something green sitting on it.

"It's wasabi!" the girl chirped, hovering around the table, sniffing at the contents. "You have to eat all of it. Before you can proceed to the fifth level."

Fuji didn't know why, but for some reason his body moved against his will and he sat in the chair and picked up the golden spoon that was sitting next to the glass, eyeing the wasabi in fear. His arm moved and he took a big, heaping scoop of the green spice, putting the whole thing into his mouth.

At first he was relieved, since he didn't taste any spiciness in his mouth. His arm moved and took another scoop before Fuji's insides felt like they were burning. Fuji could feel the wasabi moving down his throat, burning so painfully. He took another spoonful of wasabi, and another, and another, his stomach clenching painfully, his insides burning.

"It's always fun, the fourth level," the girl said while Fuji was downing the wasabi. "The dead people always look relieved, and then they look horrified, just like you are now. But you have a strong will; you haven't even screamed out yet. Maybe in the fifth level then."

Fuji didn't even want to know what the fifth level contained as he swallowed the last of the wasabi, his insides still burning, scorching hot as if there was a fire inside his body.

The fifth level confused him even more than what the fourth level did. He eyed the dress that was before him, confused. "I'm not a girl, though," he said in a small voice, too scared to see what would happen next.

"Of course you're not, if you were, you'd get a tux," the girl said impatiently. "It's the underworld, remember? It's nothing like your old world. It's a whole new world down here."

Fuji didn't know why, but a mere second later he ended up in the dress. He started swaying around, and music began playing in the background, ugly notes, tones that weren't meant to be played together. Morbid chords that had no meaning besides being ugly. He tried stopping his body from swaying and twirling around, but his body wouldn't listen to him.

"You have absolutely no control of anything over here," a voice said, surprisingly not from the girl this time. "You are dead, nothing, and we control you now. You are controlled by Death, and it will keep that way for eternity."

The dress felt tighter around Fuji's waist, and he was still endlessly twirling about, the darkness whirling about him, the girl a mere, tiny figure in the distance, giggling and flying around. He soon wasn't able to breathe, the dress being too tight and clenching painfully around his body.

The dress turned into a cylinder steel cone, and the steel surrounding him grew even tighter.

"You'll be squished through and through," the voice said again, mocking him, as if daring him to try to get out, knowing full well that Fuji couldn't.

Fuji felt himself sinking through all the pain and he found himself in what was probably the sixth level.

"Oh, the wonders of the sixth level!" the girl proclaimed, flying around the dark cavern. "This is one of Death's favorite parts."

Fuji dreaded what was about to come next, and indeed, it was even worse than being suffocated in a cylinder of steel.

"Please, someone, save my child!" a woman cried out, cradling the said child in her arms, blood everywhere on the ground, the child's eyes closed. Fuji with a start realized that the child looked exactly like his brother when he was around four. "My child's dying!" she screamed. "Someone help!"

Fuji didn't recognize the woman, but he certainly recognized Yuuta. He ran over and tried to reach out to his brother, but the woman slapped his arm away and started glaring at him.

"You!" she said, anger and pure hatred glowing in her eyes. "How dare you show your face to me here! Go away!"

"My brother," Fuji said helplessly, trying to reach out again, but the woman flinched back.

"You have no right to touch him, or to see him for that matter!" she spat out. "_You_ were the one that caused this to happen! If you hadn't run so fast, Yuuta wouldn't have tried to chase after you and get hit by a car! It's all _your_ fault! _You_ should be the one that's dead right now, not him!"

"I…am dead," Fuji tried to start to say but was cut off.

The woman cackled. "_You_, dead? You're hardly dead! You're still alive and breathing, while Yuuta here isn't! How dare you say that _you're_ dead?!"

"I didn't kill him," Fuji tried again, but the woman interrupted him for a second time.

"Didn't kill him?!" the woman screeched, eyes wide, neck so tense her head looked like it was about to snap off. "Of course you killed him! He chased after you, begging you to stop, and you didn't! You kept running and _he_ ended up being the one who got hit! How dare you say you're the innocent one in all of this!"

"He's my brother," he choked out, desperately trying to reach his brother, but he was pulled back, and all of a sudden he was falling, falling, falling, falling into nothingness…

"You're in the seventh level now," the girl notified him. "How did you think the sixth level was?"

Fuji didn't answer her.

"Probably too focused on that guy who's talking to him, then," the girl decided, shrugging and floating around Fuji.

"This is a tennis ball," the man said, right in Fuji's face, the tennis ball in front of Fuji's eyes, not allowing him to see anything else. He couldn't move his head, and the tennis ball just got closer. "This is a tennis ball. This is you. Therefore, you are the tennis ball."

"I don't understand," Fuji said feebly.

"That's the wrong answer!" the man shouted, taking a knife and slashing Fuji's face, making him wince. At least it wasn't as bad as the previous level was. The man tried again. "This is a tennis ball. This is you. Therefore, you are the tennis ball."

"I'm not a tennis ball," Fuji said stubbornly. "Why are you even telling me this?"

"I do not need a reason!" The man slashed the other side of his face next, leaving a deep, stinging gash. "I'll tell you once more. This is a tennis ball. This is you. Therefore, you are the tennis ball."

Fuji shook his head, and the man proceeded to grab his arm and carve into it with a knife, the cold metal digging painfully into his flesh.

It was then that Fuji noticed that his blood was not in fact red as it should be, but it had turned black, dripping onto the dark, black nothingness. The man had stopped telling him he was a tennis ball and proceeded to grab onto his arms and legs and slash them all with a knife, and Fuji winced.

"If I tell you I'm a tennis ball, will you stop?" he finally asked as the man slashed his arm for what seemed to be like the hundredth time.

The man cackled evilly. "Oh, you've had your change. You must hate that little green ball, don't you now? A fat lot of good it's done."

Fuji was sinking again, the angry, dark cuts disappearing from his arms and legs. He took a look at his surroundings, and found he was enveloped in a gray, misty fog. He managed to catch a glimpse of red and ran towards it, not knowing what he was doing, exactly, just that he had to get to the red amongst the fog.

"Don't come over here," a boy said, and Fuji could see that his shirt sleeve seemed to have a faint red tinge to it. "Don't come over here," he repeated. "You can't help me."

"You arm is bleeding," Fuji stated, coming towards him and grabbing onto the boy's arm. All of a sudden blood came gushing out at a alarming pace.

"I told you not to touch it!" the boy cried out, his blood spreading onto the ground. "You couldn't have helped me anyway!"

The blood seemed to thicken and after a while the boy shriveled up into a skeleton, lying in Fuji's arms.

"You couldn't save him," another boy cried out, black hair enveloping his face, one hand holding a white cap.

Fuji walked over toward him. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on."

"Don't come near me!" The boy started to turn away, and before Fuji could warn him that he was too close to the edge of a cliff that had appeared out of nowhere, the boy disappeared, falling, his scream deafening, as if he were right beside Fuji.

"You let your guard down," a voice said, and Fuji turned around, seeing a brown-haired boy looking at him with cold eyes, blood trickling down his face, his spectacles cracked and awry. "You shouldn't read at a train station, especially when you're on a platform. You let your guard down." He disappeared, leaving Fuji in the darkness, not knowing what he had done, rather, what he had done _wrong_.

And thus, he reached the ninth level, sinking down once more until he reached his destination.

"Fujiko wasn't very careful with his chopsticks," a voice taunted, the owner of the voice floating around, his red hair covering most of his face except for a smile that appeared. "Now you've done it! Now my arm's bleeding and my clothes are all ruined, nya!" He scowled. "I don't need a friend that stabs me with chopsticks!" And he disappeared, another boy appearing in his place, cap on his head.

This boy wasn't smirking, however. "I told you not to come near me," he said harshly, hovering around Fuji menacingly. "I don't want you near me. How hard is it to understand that? And there you go, you've made me fall off a cliff. Fat lot of help _that_ does. Che." He disappeared as well, and the brown-haired boy with spectacles Fuji had seen before in the eighth level appeared.

"You were too careless," the boy said, frowning. "People must watch where they're going when they are at a train station." He disappeared at that, leaving Fuji alone.

_You aren't helpful at all…_

_We don't want you in our lives…_

_We don't _need_ you in our lives…_

_Disappear…disappear…disappear…_

_It'll be better…we promise._

And thus Fuji sank into total darkness, the voices in his head tormenting him.

_--dreams--_

"What do you mean he hasn't been dreaming?" Echizen demanded, not understanding what the doctor was saying to him.

"He's only been sleeping," the doctor claimed, looking over his notes. "We haven't seen any signs of him dreaming. There have been tests, but they all show up as negative."

_Then what the hell is going on?_

A earsplitting shriek startled them both out of their thoughts, and the doctor scurried to Fuji's hospital room, two nurses preventing Echizen to follow him.

_What's going on?_

* * *

Extra long chapter today, to make up for the fact I didn't update this in like, a week and a half. XD I'm planning on having two more chapters and…that's it. XD


	5. Dream 5

_What's going on?_

_--dreams--_

"Get away from me!" Fuji cried out, picking up the vase that was next to his bed. "I'm no help at all!" He threw the vase at the doctor, who barely dodged it. The pink and white ceramic shattered on the wall, bits and pieces rebounding at different angles. The red flowers lay in a puddle of water, looking sad and desolate. "Get away!" he repeated.

"Fuji-senpai, calm down!" Echizen watched in horror as Fuji dived under his blankets, all the while screaming at them and ordering them to get away from him.

The nurses pushed him away, apologizing to him and telling him that it was urgently requested that he lave the room. He left, Fuji's screams haunting him, drowning the doctor's voice, asking him to calm down.

If Fuji wasn't having any dreams, Echizen had no idea what was making Fuji act this way.

_--dreams--_

"Class, please remember that we will be having a math test next Tuesday," Fuji announced, the noises of the zippers and the shuffling of feet drowning his voice out as students hurriedly put their books in their desks, zipping up their bags. "Don't forget to study," he advised, not sure that any of his students were listening to him. Once the bell rang, people scurried out of the room, running through hallways and shouting at each other.

"Um, about the math test," a voice said slowly, and Fuji looked up from his desk in surprise. One of his students was standing in front of him, looking a little hesitant. "I was wondering if you could help me. I didn't understand some of the problems that were in the textbook."

Fuji nodded, a little surprised that a student had come up to him for help. Usually students were too lazy to pay attention to their studies, and they had a lot of extracurricular activities to attend. "Would you like to come to my office?" he asked.

The boy nodded eagerly. Fuji remembered right then that this boy's name was Echizen Ryoma, a student that didn't really talk too much during class. "I hope it's not too much trouble," the boy said.

Fuji shook his head. "No trouble at all."

Some time passed by with them in the staff lounge, Fuji tutoring his student on the math problems that his student was having trouble with. For some reason he couldn't remember what problems he was teaching his student, as his eyes skimmed the page rapidly, him talking without even consciously trying to open his mouth. The boy next to him nodded a few times, scribbling notes on a piece of paper.

The boy would occasionally come up to Fuji, asking him some questions about the math homework, or asking him for help on a particular concept that he hadn't understood in the lecture. Fuji was more than happy to help his student, happy that he was of some use, happy that someone was finally acknowledging him as a teacher who was helpful. Perhaps being a teacher wasn't such a bad and lonely job after all.

He and his student became fast friends, which was odd, considering the fact that Fuji was a teacher, and Echizen was a student. Fuji didn't really talk to his students that much, only during class when there were lectures going on.

Soon finals were rolling right around the corner, and Fuji helped his student study for them, giving him practice worksheets he had spent hours typing up, just for him. When the first day of finals approached, the boy thanked him, smiling.

Three days later, however, the boy wasn't smiling anymore.

A week later, Fuji found the boy in the empty staff lounge, glaring at him and holding up a knife.

"Your study sessions didn't help _at all_," he spat out, knife dangerously close to Fuji's throat now. "You gave me the completely wrong problems to study from! You really aren't useful as a teacher, are you?"

Fuji couldn't answer him, just staring at the boy that was in front of him, holding up a knife and trembling with rage. He didn't know what he had done wrong. He was sure that he had given the boy enough problems, and was completely assured that the boy would do well on his finals.

"You were just a distraction," the boy stated, his voice barely above a whisper now. "It didn't help me at all, in fact, my scores were worse than last year. This is all your fault!" And with that statement still ringing in Fuji's ears, the knife was plunged into his chest, time slowing down, so slow that Fuji could feel the knife piercing through his skin, through his heart, the blood trickling down, the warm, almost burning hot liquid.

He was so useless. He couldn't even teach a student properly. What was the use of living if he was so useless?

He was nothing.

_--dreams--_

Echizen awoke to a almost painful grip on his arm, Fuji looking at him, tears prickling his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," the brunette choked out, Echizen looking at him wide-eyed, not fully understanding what he meant by the apology. "I didn't mean for you to fail your finals."

"Fuji-senpai, we haven't had finals yet," Echizen said gently, brushing back Fuji's hair. "It was all just a bad dream."

Fuji seemed to calm down a little, his breathing a little slower. "A dream?" he asked, pure confusion in his eyes.

"It was just a dream," Echizen repeated. "You need more sleep."

"Sleep." Fuji flopped back down onto his hospital bed, and closed his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time to Echizen.

For the past week, all Fuji had been doing was sleep. Sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

In fact, Fuji was only awake for a few minutes at a time. During the past week, he had been awake for probably only an hour at most.

Echizen kept repeating to himself that Fuji was only experiencing bad dreams, but that certainly didn't explain what the doctor claimed. That Fuji wasn't dreaming at all, no signs of him even dreaming through the machines that were occasionally attached to Fuji's arm.

No signs of dreams at all.


	6. Final Dream

_This is the final chapter of Dystopia. Just because I can, and because I suck. xD It was planned so…yeah. I dunno if it's confusing or not, if it is, PM me or something and ask about it. I'll do my best to explain. xD_

_Any of you guys who are waiting for the update from Cerebello, it'll be up as soon as we can put it up. Yeah, something around those lines. XD Because um, some USB like, got lost and it's being retyped currently by __**hyperdude**__. Thanks for everyone's patience. XD_

* * *

Fuji looked at the sickly green of the marble tiles on the floor, how they gleaned and reflected the light. He wondered why people would clean it; it was a hospital, anyways. There was no need to clean a sickly, green floor.

Doctors and nurses scurried past him, one of them actually bumping into him. The nurse apologized and paused for only a second before scurrying along with the rest of the doctors and nurses. Fuji paid her no heed, walking and walking.

Suddenly he came to a crowded corridor, filled with people checking in and others in wheelchairs being pushed around. He realized that there was a door, and assuming it was the exit, went through it.

The sudden sounds of cars rushing past him and the honks that were heard from afar startled him. He hadn't been outside for so long, and the sun was so bright he had to squint for a few minutes.

Fuji suddenly decided that he wanted to get away from the hospital, away from the sickly green that he had seen on those marbled tile floors. He wanted to get away from that artificial smell that was all around inside that damned building, all those wheelchairs, all those nurses scurrying about, all the sickly people coming in and out of hallways.

He just wanted to get away from it all, that stupid revolving door behind him, those stupid chairs that weren't fit for a hospital, the sickly smell of medicine and someone dying, those stupid dreams that he had everyday.

And so he stepped out onto the street, not even bothering to look at where he was going, not even bothering to look and see if there was a car coming at his direction, too focused on getting away from that nightmarish place.

He didn't even bother to pay attention to the loud honk that followed after he stepped out onto the street, nor the shrieks as the car's wheels protested at the sudden stop.

He probably didn't even notice that he had been hit, or the anguished cry a boy only a few feet away from him gave out.

_--dreams--_

"I'm sorry," the doctor apologized, bowing. "We were too late in saving him."

"He got hit right next to a hospital," Echizen said slowly, looking at the cloth that was draped over Fuji's body, wanting it all to be a dream. "What do you mean you couldn't save him?"

"I'm afraid the car was going at too high of a speed," the doctor answered. "I'm sorry," he said again, fiddling with something that was in his coat pocket.

He fell silent, staring at the green tiles on the floor. He suddenly wanted to get away from this place, to get away from those silent beeps of a machine that were coming from another room. He didn't see the doctor slip out something from his pocket.

Nor did he see the doctor running at him a few seconds later, slamming him against the wall, knife gleaming in his hands, eyes wide, smiling a maniacal grin.

_--dreams--_

He woke up suddenly, sitting straight up, eyes wide, his clothes damp with sweat, his sheets in a tangled mess. He spotted the phone next to his bed and grabbed it, flipping it open and punching a bunch of numbers. He listened to the dial tone and impatiently waited for the other boy to pick up.

"Hello?" a slightly tired voice asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"You're not dead," Echizen stated, his breathing slowing down into a more normal pace.

The boy on the other end laughed. "No, of course I'm not dead. Why would I be? You must've had a bad dream."

He relaxed a little, his grip on his cellphone not as menacing. "Don't forget to meet us on the tennis courts tomorrow, okay?"

"I won't, I won't," Fuji assured him. "Oh, and I'll bring some cash and extra tennis balls, okay?"

Echizen nodded, and after they both hung up, he flopped back down on his bed.

_It was only a dream…_


End file.
